Review by Steve 'Flash' Juon

Artist: Dallas
Title: Thugs Cry
Label: Universal Records

Expecting something akin to Bizzy Bone's "Heaven'z Movie" song or 2Pac's track from "Until the End of Time," Dallas completely threw me for a loop here. Perhaps I should have taken my cue from the fact he has a piano tatted on his arm instead of a cross. Dallas is a crooner, not a rapper, but much like his contemporary The-Dream he carefully walks the line between the two genres. After all it's not every R&B singer who claims to be a thug, and on the chorus he's definitely spitting game as much as he is singing. "I can see it from the look in your eyes/Girl you like to make the thugs cry/It ain't no sense in lyin', girl don't try/It ain't right to make the thugs cry." I'm generally wary of these types of songs, but Dream & Kornbread produce a compelling melody for Dallas with a surprising amount of bass. Dallas may be 2008's answer to D'Angelo or TQ.